Building community amongst makers as well as building a relationship between the Makerspace and community is important. The learning community is also a key component in the definition of maker spaces by Martin, 2015; Halverson & Sheridon, 2014. The NiMC project works to address the challenges of forming learning communities in rural learning environments. The NiMC project works to support the shared space (access to tools) as well as shared knowledge (access to mentors) in a learning community; positioning the project at the intersection of the learning community: Place, Shared Purpose, and Social Context (see figure to the right).
Shared Purpose
The content domain of interests can be organized into categories of interests: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (Holly, 1991).
Social Context
The learning that occurs among and between people, either in local groups or connected via the web, VR, or telepresence.
Place
This project has extended beyond the physical Makerspace but also investigated Virtual collaborative spaces. In addition to online e-communities.